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Wynonna Judd

Grammy-Winning Country Superstar, Author and Contestant on "Dancing With the Stars"

Born in Kentucky, Wynonna Judd was raised in poverty by her mother, Naomi Judd. Mother and daughter shared a love of singing, and moved to Nashville to pursue a career in music. In 1983, the Judds were signed to RCA records -- and were shot into country music superstardom. The Judds sold over 20 million albums and won five Grammys. After her mother fell ill, Wynonna pursued a solo career, with equally huge success -- in spite of some personal struggles.
Wynonna's half-sister, Ashley Judd, is an accomplished actress.

Wynonna and her half-sister Ashley grew up wearing second-hand clothes and occasionally lived in houses without electricity or indoor plumbing. Wynonna Judd and her mother built a very close, if occasionally rather dysfunctional, relationship. In 1979, Wynonna and Naomi changed their surnames from Ciminella to Naomi's rootsier-sounding maiden name, Judd, and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, the country music capital of the world, to pursue careers in the recording industry. They signed to the label RCA Records in 1983, performing as a duo called, simply, The Judds.

Between 1983 and 1991, The Judds rose to superstardom in the country music world, selling over 20 million albums, cracking the top ten singles chart on 20 different occasions, and winning five Grammys, in addition to sweeping every major country music award for eight years running. The Judds' single "Let Me Tell You About Love" became their 14th and final song to hit No. 1 on the U.S. country chart, capping an extraordinary decade in which they were perhaps the biggest act in all of country music.

Wynonna Judd moved on to start her solo career after her mother's Hepatitis diagnosis. In 1992, she released her debut solo album, Wynonna. It went platinum five times over and spawned four top-ten singles. Her second album, Tell Me Why, released a year later, also became a multi-platinum success. Wynonna's third album, Revelations, was released in 1996 and was also certified platinum. It was followed by 1997's The Other Side.

In 2005, she released a memoir, "Coming Home to Myself," which became a New York Times bestseller.

In 2010, The Judds announced a final reunion tour that fall. Wynonna and her mother were frequent guests on the Oprah Winfrey Show, having appeared a total of 18 times as guests and performers. The duo has a reality show on OWN, called simply "The Judds." Wynonna Judd is also returning to the recording studio for new albums and published a romance novel, "Restless Heart," in 2011. Wynonna was also a contestant on season 16 of "Dancing with the Stars."

A certain musical and spiritual condition defines Wynonna Judd's first album with her band The Big Noise — not to mention the first album of original material in 13 years from one of country music's supreme redheads. That quality is joy. It dominates, not just because Judd is performing with a small group led by her husband, the drummer and producer Cactus Moser, letting loose on songs she hand-selected because she liked them rather than out of concern for padding her remarkable roster of hits. Wynonna & The Big Noise lays bare the joy that is Judd's most potent gift as a vocalist.